Tagged: Coventry City Council

(An independent new campaign, not a new Sky Blues supporters’ group. E-petition to Coventry City Council linked below)

We believe a large number of Coventry fans, and city taxpayers, above all just want Coventry City Football Club back at the Ricoh Arena as soon as possible – regardless of who owns either.

We believe Ricoh Arena freehold owners Coventry City Council – as well as the club’s owners Sisu/Otium, the Football League and others – must share responsibility for the city losing our proud football club.

We now call on councillors to take control of the situation for the good of the city’s economy, pride and reputation.

We say campaigning by fans’ groups so far has taken place outside Sisu HQ and ‘home’ games at Northampton, but not the Council House – despite the popular view that all sides must take responsibility.

We call on the council and its part-owned Ricoh management company Arena Coventry Limited to accept its costly legal attempts to oust Sisu failed – and Sisu/Otium on August 2 won the crucial Football League’s “golden share”.

We call on the council to conduct a survey of the impact on the city’s economy of losing its football club (a) temporarily over up to five years, and (b) permanently, if and when a new stadium is built in Warwickshire following the Northampton groundshare.

We ask councillors, “What is the point of having an empty taxpayer-supported Ricoh Arena as a white elephant, without the club it was built for?”

We call on the council to explain to fans and city taxpayers what strategy it now has, if any, for returning the Sky Blues to the Ricoh Arena as soon as possible.

We call on councillors to explain the council’s business plan for the Ricoh Arena without the football club.

We are concerned that a so-called “public asset” without the football club it was built for could soon become a “public liability”. It has already this year been propped up with £14million of taxpayer support.

We will hold an initial peaceful demonstration outside Coventry City Council House on Tuesday, October 22, from 1–2pm, before a full council meeting at 2pm.

We call on the council and ACL to explain where the money is coming from for legal and PR fees in its dispute with the club’s owners. Is this further risk to the taxpayer?

This independent campaign is not “pro-Sisu”, but recognises all parties must urgently resume talks over stadium revenues and ownership – not simply a return to having the club as tenants.

Many fans believe whoever owns the club should own the stadium to help maximise crucial club revenues – and that selling the Ricoh Arena to the current owners could represent the best possibility of a Sisu exit strategy.

We therefore say the council should not exclude from negotiations selling the stadium – on a freehold or leasehold arrangement – to the club’s legal and rightful owners, whoever they may be.

We call on the council/ACL directors Martin Reeves and Chris West to explain why they have had ownership talks with other potential investors in the club, but not for months with the current owners.

The e-petition linked here calls on fellow fans to sign if they are broadly in agreement with the above.